While it might be all to easy to criticise, moan and bitch about the vagaries of WCAG 2.0 (and even easier to do that rather than contributing - remember, folks, last call on WCAG 2.0!) , the fact is that there has been an awful lot of work put in by a lot of very hard-working people. One such person is Dr John Slatin from the University of Texas, a blind accessibility expert whom many of the readers of this site either know of or have met personally (possibly at SXSW). It was with great sadness, therefore, that I learned today that John is very ill with leukemia, an illness that he believed he had beaten back in December last year.
"The reason I had the brain scan is that I noticed what seemed like a significant increase in the number and type of errors I made while typing; it just seemed that signals were getting crissed somehow between the words that formed in my mind and the words that came out through my figers."
Note that the typo in that last sentence was Johns’ and he’s decided to leave them in on the basis that there may be something that could later be gleaned from any patterns in his errors (which makes it all the more difficult to read - not from a technical point of view, rather an emotional one - when it appears that the typos appear to be getting worse).
There’s a support group on Yahoo that Gordon Montgomery has set up for John and Anna, including this very touching note from John, while John continues to blog about his experiences here.
I’m sure I speak for all the readers of Accessify when I say that our thoughts are with you and your family, John.
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